When we first met Kara Zor El, she was drifting through space on Argo City, a broken off piece of the destroyed planet Krypton. If their homeworld blowing up wasn’t traumatic enough, the entire population started dying off from radiation poisoning. Kara’s dad pulled a Jor El move and sent her to Earth, saving her life. There, she spent her childhood mentoring under her cousin Superman, who was pulling a Batman move, training a kid for war. Eventually she’d put on a white t-shirt with an ‘S’ on it and fight the good fight as Supergirl. Somewhere down the road, CBS would adapt her story for television and make a few changes. Today’s question: what’s changing, exactly?

So far, the above photo depicts the Supergirl we can expect to see. Blonde and cute. But she’s missing something very important. I mentioned it in the open. Can you see it? Okay, out with it – where’s the white T-shirt? I don’t think we’re gonna see it when the show debuts, and there’s a perfectly good reason for that. The white ‘T’ always symbolized Kara’s early years, which we’re not going to see. Bypassing the whole ‘Smallville II: Girls Be Super,’ Kara’s trading in her ‘T’ for the red cape (or something.) This Kara accepts her super-powered destiny and starts her battle against the evildoers of Metropolis and beyond. According to the Hollywood Reporter:

“The hourlong drama, taken out last week, centers on Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, who was born on the planet Krypton and escaped amid its destruction years ago. Since arriving on Earth, she has been hiding the powers she shares with her famous cousin. But now at age 24, she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.”

Could this be one of the changes we were spooked about when this thing hit the news? UPROXX claims they have Hollywood Reporter sources who say the show won’t even be called ‘Supergirl.’ Where does this all leave us as far as changes go? Let’s speculate…

First of all, peace out to all that origin story shit. In order to do that, you’d have to incorporate Superman, and these guys don’t have that kind of clout. I think the show creators are trying to occupy the same universe as The Flash and Arrow, with only the vaguest ties to all those movies DC/Warner Bros. are working on. Zipping into the future where Kara is ready to take on the terrors of the world means the series can hit the ground running. That makes this super woman a twenty-something still calling herself a “girl,” which will undoubtedly be weird, but screw it. It’s been going on in the comics for years, so whatever. And it enables her to tell her own “B” stories instead of having to lurk in the shadow of her A-List cousin. Enter Martha Kent, who would have to play a major part in the series. She ties Kara to Smallville and Superman, and a dead Jonathon Kent would ground the series timeline. Casting Annette O’Toole in that recurring role would be a hoot.

But this also leaves open a strange issue involving movie Superman. From Wikipedia:

“A reference of Kara is seen in ‘Man of Steel’ where Clark sees a space pod open in the Fortress. In addition, a prequel tie-in comic was released that revealed Kara’s connection to the ship found on Ellesmere Island as well as her life prior, although her ultimate fate was left unknown.”

Does this series put a monkey wrench in Kara’s potential movie debut?

Few people think that TV Flash will graduate to film. That character will be played by a Hollywood actor, which Grant Gustin isn’t. But movie flash could be Wally West whereas TV Flash is Barry Allen and Supergirl doesn’t have that luxury of identity. Will there be a similar scenario where TV Supergirl has a cinema doppleganger? Is the idea of her appearing in movies squashed altogether? Will she wear a skimpy skirt? Will there be further changes to the series that distance her from the character we know and love? Time will tell. In the meantime, dig the video below from the ‘Justice League’ cartoon. In honor of the white t-shirt!

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